Alabama ski resort reports worst ski season ever

It was one of the warmest winters on record and brought some big problems to Alabama's only ski resort.

Officials at Cloudmont Ski Resort say it was their worst year since opening in 1970.

They average around 40 days a year, but this year it was hardly a single handful.

The ground at Cloudmont Ski Resort is already turning green. But it's white on the ground that brings green to the pockets of this family-owned business since 1970, and that just hasn't happened this year.

"We've had others that were pretty bad, but they were never like this," said Gary Jones.

Jones is in charge of making the snow and he said this year beats the likes of no other. He's used to seeing at least 40 or more days of skiing. This year was just a half-dozen or so.

He knew early in the year something wasn't right.

"Nothing got cold at all, even in December and in November. We didn't have any cold spots," Jones said.

The lone bright spot was three days in early January when 450 people came in one weekend after a three day cold snap.

"Everybody was jumping because they wanted to ski because they had missed the holidays and they just came out, thank goodness," said Cloudmont manager Janis Carrier

But Carrier says it's been a tough year financially.

"Ski season is our money maker, so it helps us for the rest of the year," said Carrier.

Everybody here is left wondering just how there could have been so few days of skiing.

"This year we had seven. Global warming or El Nino," said Carrier.

Jones said he's thinking about adding summer water tubing and possibly zip lines to the resort.